The Moments Before Morning

I guess you could say that I've settled into my new (temporary) job. For the past couple of weeks, I've found myself spending Sunday afternoons in a state of anxiety as the clock ticked toward Monday morning. This morning though, I'm surprised to find that I am looking forward to going to school. I've had a three day weekend, and I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get going. I wrote my first sub plans last week so that I could take Friday off to be with the boys (they had no school), and I want to get in and see how things went in my absence. Sounds a little funny...the sub writing plans for the sub!

I got to bed nice and early last night and Stephen did the one bottle that Gavin is still waking up for. This must be why I found myself staring up at the ceiling, wide awake at 5 am. I'm waiting for my teapot to whistle and I'm going to indulge in some quiet time with my bible - something that happens far too seldom.

As I get ready for my day, so many people are on my heart: my sister, whose divorce was recently finalized; my mom, who is now living in California and is having to deal with homesickness and the sadness of having to place her mom in a nursing home; my mother-in-law, who headed back to New Jersey last week after two weeks of keeping everything together at our house to find that a longtime friend had passed away; one of my oldest friends, who contacted me through Facebook just to say hi - I get a big smile on my face thinking of all time we spent singing into a karaoke machine and "mixing" tracks with various harmonies; my dad, who spends a great deal of time helping his dad and his uncle - both of whom are getting up there in years (will I be as generous when the time comes for me to care for my loved ones?); my future (will I find a teaching job for the fall?); and my husband, who goes to work every day at a job that is stressful and oftentimes thankless - and I know he does it for love of me and the boys.

It's a peaceful feeling, my heart full of people I care about, sitting in the quiet moments before our house becomes chaos with a cup of tea, listening to the birds outside. Now I think I'll go spend a bit of time making sure God knows that I know how blessed I am.